Hey David, check this thread and there was also another one there where someone (6nebraskaidis maybe) had some made.

Oilburners.net

 

Thanks but as I mentioned earlier I was able to get a nice big O ring that works great for $2.50. He can also get Viton if needed, but I think it will hold just fine. Found it at a hydraulic supply.

I wasn't loosing much boost as it turns out. performance was unchanged.

 

8V92 twin turbo when they first came out in a Freightliner.

The Detroit Diesel shop in Jersey set it up for me, 3200 RPM, no aneroid valve and the biggest injectors they could find out of a marine motor.

Flames out the stacks when you got above 2000 RPM.

Back in those days, Monfort thought they had fast trucks.
The Kilted Scottsman showed them how it was done though.

I stuck it out for 13 years, over 4 million accident free miles.
But in the mid 80's, traffic was getting heavier, cops were getting thicker and dispatch was pushing harder so I decided it was time for a change of jobs.

My last run was litterally almost my last run.
I almost hit a freight hauler running 35 or 40 MPH at 95+ on black ice out in Indiana on my east bound haul.
The passenger side mirror hit the back of his trailer we were so close.
When I got back to Denver, I got out of the truck and never got back in one again.

Looking back, all I can say is I was young, dumb and full of ..., well you know what.
I went everywhere, did everything and learned how to make a diesel run.

Now here I sit 23 years later, my teeth all fell out 10 years ago, my hair is all grey and my body hurts everywhere.
But I am still here to remember and talk about it, which is more that I can say about some of my driving friends.

 

Thats as good a reason as any that I ever heard to change careers, Dave. Although even if you did survive for all that time, the work just doesn't pay as well as it used to from what I understand.

Well to the original topic...

I just got back from the 200 mile trip and the truck did just fine. No overheating at all, and fuel economy was good. I've fueled up 3 times since taking the fan and shroud off, and it stacks up like this so far:

15.04 MPG.... Driving short trips around town typically 10 miles or less at a time. Normally I see 13 MPG

16.47 MPG.... Some urban driving but also 100 miles of freeway driving with a mild head wind and moderate rain.

19.64 MPG.... This was the return leg of the 200 mile trip. The wind died down a little, but did have some tailwind. I did have railings on top to hinder aerodynamics.

Its early yet, but normally, I would be around 15 MPG for freeway driving in a mild rainstorm like this with railings on the rack on top, so it seems that I did pick up some MPGs even at highway speeds. Since there seems to be no problem with cooling, I'll probably leave the fan in storage in the corner of the shop for the rest of the winter. I've been driving the truck without a fan for over a week now and I am satisfied with how it performed.

 

Actually drivers out there today, company drivers that is are making about 5 times as much per mile.
But with traffic the way it is, cops the way they are and the DOT the way they are plus the CDL, there is no way a person could run like we did back then.

Your per hour rate was a direct relationship to the speedo numbers.
The bigger the speedo numbers stayed all week, the bigger the numbers were on your check at the end of the week.

Toward the end, fuel costs were starting to impact the pay check, I mean once I got stuck in NYC overnight and had to have fuel since it was winter.
I had to pay a Jesse James highway robbery price for fuel in the city, 1.87 a gallon.


When you are driving just remember if you have to sit still, turn the engine off.
It will still cool idling along at 10 MPH, but sitting still is going to run the temp up unless it is blue cold.

10 F and below qualifies as blue cold since you may not be up on hillbilly talk.

 

I've idled it in the driveway after returning from a drive and didn't have any problems. The only thing I didn't try is idling it in gear. Might as well plug the PCM in and see what the trans temps are doing at the same time. Outside temp was about 40F today but it was wet most of the time.

I did some time in front of stop lights today and it didn't do anything strange.

 

Another successful test....

Drove it up Mt washington today with the fan and shroud still off. Yes, we have a "Mt. washington" up here too......You'd think they could have come up with something more original.

Average speed was 35 MPH and grades ranging from 6% to 12% and a few flat sections, outside temp was around 35 degrees F. The drive to the top is about 12 miles I think. The posted speed limit was 60KPH but the only reason I went that slow was because of a rav4 in front of me that didn't know where he/she was going. Even stopped in the road for no reason a couple of times with a mile long line up trailing behind.

Anyway, the truck ran perfectly and never got hotter than the usual reading in the gauge. Boost stayed at or below 5 psi and EGTs at 600 the whole way up. Was kinda funny because I had a toyota prius behind me that couldn't keep up even at such slow speeds. After about 1.6 miles of uphill, they run out of battery power and the puny gas engine has to do all the work, but he's saving the planet! haha.

On the way back down I was following two dodge minivans that were burning their brakes like they were going out of style (but one was a rental so I guess that one doesn't count). It was a good trip, LMAO.

 

I removed the fan again about a week ago in anticipation of winter and just now I got a rep point for my last post on this thread (how did he know??). I'll probably make it a matter of routine to have it on in the summer and off in the winter. Generally winter driving brings down the MPGs with my truck and this seems to help make up for most of that loss. The difference is more noticeable with short trips.

ford96f150, you physic or something?

 

dave all ur teeth fell out man u need to brush lol i was think abou ttakeing mine off but i fear when i do 10 + things will go wrong with it

 

Electric Fan Clutch - Maybe mod an AC compressor clutch to mount on the water pump then mount the fan. the system would need to supportted with bearings so it doesn't wobble.

 

LOL!
just researching all the mods before i get mine on the road.
i know ditching a stock fan for electrics are the way to go.
many dont think its worth it cus its usually a small gain in hp/mpg's but the difference is quite large combined with all kinds of littler mods like this one.
i will be sure to loose my fan and toss on two of these ford 3.8l fans iv been reading about on this(and other) forums(s).
over just 100k miles with this mod alone,your talking quite the savings.
many forget to think long term.
thanks for this thread.your tests actually show quite large gains for just an easy mod.im very surprised.
i plan to setup two fans with two independent temp controls.
these fans can be scored very reasonable at that salvage yards.
this way i could keep this mod and continue to fuel savings(small hp increase) all year long,and will really add up through the duration of my ownership.
this is worth doing imho,if your field tests showed just a 1/4 mpg increase.(let alone a hole mpg! up to even 2!! thats HUGE yearly savings once you figure the two fans/controllers are paid back-probably within the first 6 months-year for many drivers if you figure you can score the fans for $30-$40 bucks and other goodies needed if you dont just want to set 'em up with a manual switch.)

 

After running electric fans for a while, I can tell you that the MPG gain is really smaller than you think because of the drain on the alternator and batteries.

I have found the Horton does make an electric fan clutch (EC 450)that may be conpatable with the IDI engine.
There is a version with 1.25" x 16 left hand threads.
Waiting on a reply back from them to make sure the pulley still drives the water pump when the fan is disengaged.

The only draw back is the 700 dollar price tag, which is the best price I have found so far.

A three position switch gives manual on, manual off and automatic operation.

 

Don't the belts drive the pulley, which then drives the fan when the clutch engages? That would mean the water pump will function the same as normal since the clutch is between the water pump and the fan. Hopefully I'm reading what you wrote the same way as how you meant it to be read?

 

I am not sure, with a 700 dollar price tag I want to be sure everything will work before I order one.

It looks like it should operate like you/I/we think, but I want to be sure.

http://www.ngclark.com.au/pdfs/horto...airs/EC450.pdf

 

I really depends on what sort of use the truck is going through. Lots of low speed, high load operation like plowing will probably require the fan to be on more often. Other people found that for more conventional driving even in the summer, electric fans hardly ever come on at all. I drove my truck pretty hard to try and see what a difference it might make without the fan, and the temp gauge would not budge. Took an IR thermometer to the rad, and the bottom was barely warm even after a hard race up a 10% hill.

The idea here is since my truck has a cooling package that is probably rated for 15000GWV or more, why use all of it (and waste fuel) when I'm usually running 6-7k GVW?

Warmup time is where the difference is really noticed though. I don't understand why the fan clutch defalts on when temperature drops below operating range. That never made sence to me.

Last summer we had a heat wave were the truck didn't overheat, but it did run warm sitting in traffic (fan was installed and working). A big advantage of electric fans is they can pull at full power even with the vehicle at idle to control the temperature. The stock fan is tied to engine RPM, so while it does have very high CFM, its not available all the time.

From what I've read so far, the ford OEM electric fans are a much better option than anything the aftermarket has to offer in terms of reliability and cost. Something out of a V8 crown vic would be ideal and might be enough without having to use 2.